Ayesha Ghazi, Education Chair

Of a multi-diverse ethnic and religious family that includes members of Burmese, Northern and Southern Indian, Armenian, and Caucasian descent, Ayesha Ghazi holds a BA in Sociology and Political Science from Albion College where she also completed a double minor in the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy and Service and Music. She earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor concentrating in Social Policy and Evaluation/Community and Social Systems with a minor in Interpersonal Clinical Practice.

Ayesha was an International Human Rights fellow working with Amnesty International USA during her undergraduate career. She then worked as a graduate fellow for the office of State Representative Rashida Tlaib as well as at ACCESS’ National Outreach Department as a National Outreach Policy fellow.

Following graduation, Ayesha began work as a federal grant writer and consultant with American Indian Health and Family Services, Inc. (AIHFS), a nonprofit organization and federally funded healthcare site run by the Indian Health Services (IHS) located in Detroit and the only organization statewide serving Native Americans federally forced to relocate to urban areas from reservations in Michigan. She later served as AIHFS’ Director of Clinical Business Operations and Quality Improvement.

After her time with AIHFS, Ayesha joined a statewide campaign and ballot initiative with the AFL-CIO during the 2012 election cycle, working to lead its constituency outreach efforts with Arab Americans and senior citizens. In 2012, Ayesha joined South Asian Voices for Impact (SAAVI) on the Board of Directors as Policy Chair serving in this position for over a year and assisting in the creation of several program areas such as evaluating the state’s outreach and enrollment efforts with Asian Americans and the Affordable Care Act and assisting the organization with its immigration and naturalization citizenship efforts and services. In December 2013, Ayesha was elected by SAAVI’s Board of Directors to serve as its Executive Director until January 2015. Throughout this time, she continued her work in healthcare policy, serving as the Statewide Director at Michigan Consumers for Healthcare (MCH), overseeing the statewide implementation of new facets of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as they rolled out in Michigan. She continued to work with the AFL-CIO on several political campaigns during the 2014 election cycle ensuring the voices of workers continue to be heard – including the “Raise Michigan” campaign and the “Workers Voice” Super PAC.

Ayesha currently works as a consultant with several organizations and individuals providing services that primarily include assistance with operational and internal restructuring and quality improvement, grant writing and fund development, and social media, public relations, and marketing. She is an advocate of the Asian American community and a member of APIAVote’s Asian American Engagement Coalition (AAEC), board member of American Citizens for Justice (ACJ), and Leadership Team Member of the national Take On Hate campaign.